Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Wednesday, October 08, 2014

It's all about sovereignty

How is it about sovereignty?

It's about politics too. The Tories cannot be seen as less nationalistic than UKIP if they're going to continue being the government.

Britain’s Tories threaten to ignore rights rulings in feud with European court

Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative Party toughened its stance on Europe on Friday, announcing a pre-election plan to quit the European Court of Human Rights unless it agrees that Britain’s parliament has the final say over its rulings.

Cameron, who is seeking to counter a growing threat from the anti-European Union U.K. Independence Party in May’s national election, has said rulings by the European rights court had prevented Britain deporting suspected militants…

The Conservatives are trying to bolster their support ahead of a probably close election next year, and the announcement received a warm welcome from Britain’s right-leaning newspapers…

Under the proposal announced on Friday, a victorious Conservative Party would draw up a Bill of Rights that would set out the application of human rights law in Britain.

The proposed changes would mean the European court’s rulings would no longer be binding over the Supreme Court and that Britain’s parliament would have the right to veto its judgments…

The plan by the Conservatives depends on the party winning an outright majority in May’s election. Its minority coalition partners in the current government, the Liberal Democrats, are opposed to limiting the powers of the court in Britain…